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NDP shifts to damage control over ‘Vegas’ MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau

BERTHIERVILLE, QUE.—Claudette Labbée has seen a lot of things in her 70 years. But she’s never seen anything like the awkward situation involving her newly elected rookie MP, Ruth Ellen Brosseau.

“Maybe she can be responsible. But she doesn’t seem responsible the way she’s acting . . . ,” she said.

Newly elected Quebec NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau is shown in a handout photo. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Labbée thought that even if she didn’t know the NDP candidate before election day, Brosseau would be there after her stunning victory.

But Brosseau’s whereabouts are still unknown. She has given no interviews.

The case of the invisible MP is just one of several fronts the New Democrats are fighting as they try to protect the young and the restless before taking over as the official Opposition.

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The age and inexperience of the 58 NDP MPs elected in Quebec — among them, several university students — has come under fire, as have comments by the 19-year-old MP-elect in Sherbrooke, who said, “Quebecers will decide if they want to be a country.”

And then there’s party deputy leader Thomas Mulcair musing about the existence of photos of Osama bin Laden’s body.

In Berthier-Maskinongé, a vast riding northeast of Montreal, all that is known of Brosseau is a single picture on the NDP website. “Is she a real person?” one local mayor joked.

Other rookie NDP candidates, who are even younger than her, have not hesitated to speak publicly. The 27-year-old Brosseau’s refusal to talk is escalating a sense of frustration among the very people she is now tasked to represent.

There are now Facebook pages calling for her to resign.

“I know it’s starting to be a problem. She must come out quickly,” Louiseville Mayor Guy Richard told the Star. “She needs to show herself here. Otherwise the party must quickly make a decision. We are demanding answers.”

Richard went so far as to say if things remain as they are, “the party will have consequences. People will protest. Someone must explain.”

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Mulcair, who had to do some explaining of his own on Thursday, suggested he’ll take care of the riding until Brosseau is ready to meet her constituents.

Mulcair came under fire for suggesting in a television interview on Wednesday that he didn’t believe the U.S. had photos proving Osama bin Laden’s death.

“Sometimes (words) don’t come out in exactly the best order and I’ll take responsibility for that perhaps in the context of a very busy week . . . ,” he told the Star’s Joanna Smith.

At a news conference Tuesday, Mulcair tried to reassure voters about the quality of the MPs elected in Quebec. Joining him were several of the rookies — but not Brosseau.

Brosseau’s notoriety was cemented during the election campaign when she decided to take off to Las Vegas for a vacation. Then, a local radio station found out she could barely speak French, even though 98 per cent of people in her riding are francophones.

Most recently, other parties are demanding an Elections Canada investigation into accusations that names on her nomination papers were falsified.

So far, the party has said Brosseau, who lives in Ottawa and most recently worked at a Carleton University pub, simply didn’t expect to be elected and has been overwhelmed. It says she will take intensive French courses to improve her language skills.

Party spokesperson Marc-André Viau said she’ll “shortly” be giving interviews to local media. But he didn’t have an exact date.

All of this was of little comfort several riding residents the Star interviewed Thursday in Berthierville’s Place du Marché.

“I’m disappointed,” said Francine Martineau, “that people voted for someone without realizing she didn’t give damn about Berthierville.”

“For certain, it’s not going to help Berthierville very much. But then, what else is new?” Carole Lachapelle said, shrugging.

Brosseau beat the incumbent Bloc Québécois candidate by nearly 5,000 votes. Most said they voted not for Brosseau, but for leader Jack Layton.

Brosseau didn’t once step foot in the riding. Didn’t even have campaign signs. Many didn’t know she could barely speak their language.

“I didn’t know,” said daycare owner Francine Belhumeur, who added it wouldn’t have affected her choice. “We wanted change, period. We should give her a chance.”

Jacinthe Brissette, mayor of the town of Lanoraie, said she found out about the French issue only on election day “by word of mouth.”

Brissette said the idea of this “ghost MP” is “absurd. It’s beyond me.”

“We’ve only seen her photo — is she a real person?” she laughed.

The NDP’s website mentioned that she rescues injured animals, and has a diploma in advertising from St. Lawrence College in Kingston.

And she wondered why the party would let someone who appears to not even want the job stand for election. “I feel disenchanted,” Brissette said. “What do they take us for? That we have no importance?”

Some were willing to give Brosseau the benefit of the doubt.

Lanoraie resident Micheline Lalonde said she voted for the Green Party candidate.

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